M and M Direct has appointed Canaccord Genuity to look at a potential stock market flotation that could be worth up to £150m. Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The discount fashion website M and M Direct has appointed bankers to look at a potential sale or flotation that could value the business at up to £150m.

The retailer, which hired the former John Lewis online boss John Brown as chief executive in 2012, has signed up Canaccord Genuity, as its majority shareholder – the US private equity firm TA Associates – considers an exit.

The potential sale or initial public offering comes after its fellow online fashion business Boohoo.com attracted a heady £560m valuation when it debuted on the stock market.

The young fashion site's £10m of profit on £92m sales makes it a smaller rival to M and M, where sales rose 7.4% to £113.4m in the year to 24 February 2013, according to the latest accounts filed at Companies House, while pre-tax profits more than doubled to £6.43m.

M and M was founded in 1987 by Mark Ellis and Martin Churchward who joined forces to buy and sell end-of-line sports goods.

The business was bought by the private equity group ECI Partners in 2004 and then sold on to TA Associates in 2007. From its original home in Stourbridge the business has expanded across Europe, including dedicated foreign-language sites in Germany, France and The Netherlands.